Meet Apple Spice (Big Macintosh/Zecora offspring)

Not actually a comic, just a few scenes in the life of Big Mac and Zecora's daughter and my main OC Winter Shade's best friend (and for some time her only friend) Apple Spice.

(Scene 1)

Apple Spice: Yee-ha! C'mon, Ah know you can go faster'n this!
Winter Shade: Nngh! You're… a lot heavier… than you think! Quit squirming!
Apple Spice: Watch out fer that tree!
Winter Shade: Which way? Which way?!
Apple Spice: Left! No, Ah mean go left, it's on yer ri-aaah!
Winter Shade: Why are you screami- OOF!

[bam, thud, etc.]

Apple Spice: That… was… AWESOME! We gotta do it again!
Winter Shade: You… [pointing hoof where she thinks she is; not quite in right direction] are insane.
Apple Spice: Yeah, Ah get that a lot.
Winter Shade: You're insane and I'm covered in tree sap.
Apple Spice: That happens more than you'd think. …So, can we try again? Ah swear, this time Ah have a pla- an idea! Ah know how to make it work this time!
Winter Shade: [facehoof]
Apple Spice: Aw, c'mon! …Ah know you can't tell, but Ah'm making puppy dog eyes at ya.
Winter Shade: Good to know.
Apple Spice: Aw, c'mon! If you do it, Ah'll get Auntie Applejack to whip up some of them apple brown betties of hers for ya!
Winter Shade: ...wait, how many we talking?

(Scene 6)

Apple Spice: And the last ingredient, one drop o' witchweed potion. Ah know, Ah know, it's nasty stuff, but that's only if ya drink it. With this, you wait exactly seventeen seconds, and then… now!

[She puts in one drop. Winter Shade can't see it, but the whole mixture suddenly turns bright green, and then fwoom! Winter Shade can't see the smoke but it's quite noisy.  And then the whole house starts to vibrate.]

Winter Shade: "WHOA! What's happening?!"
Apple Spice: "Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE! …okay, not really, but Ah've always wanted to say that!"
Winter Shade: "So it's… supposed to do that? …Oh Celestia, the smell!"
Apple Spice: [laughing] "Ah've done this a dozen times before. Ah ain't kill't nobody yet!" [vibrations stop] "It'll smell better in a minute, once it all comes together. Now, you turn on that energy sensin' mumbo-jumbo o' yers. This is the good part."
Winter Shade: "What do you mean, what I'm doing is mumbo… no way! The ingredients on their own don't have any magical properties, but when you mix them like that…"
Apple Spice: "You gotta say the right words, it's gotta be high noon, and you need the right weather. But if yer careful, 'n' take every step by the book, you'll see how it all comes together." [Confident, smug look. Alas, Winter can't see it.]
Winter Shade: "Wow. The energy's completely different now. Like the original ingredients aren't there anymore, it's something else entirely. *mouth hangs open* If I weren't right here, I'd think it was impossible."
Apple Spice: "Yup! Potions are the best for demonstrations. It's hard to doubt when ya see it with yer own eyes. Or… you know… that thing you do."
Winter Shade, excitedly: "So, what did we make? Love potion? A little something to turn you-know-who's head?"
Apple Spice: "Nope! …*mutters* idiotwouldn'tlookatmeifIbithim."
Winter Shade: "Strength potion, healing potion?"
Apple Spice: "Nope, somethin' even better. Ah can tell ya we got on hand the finest ice cream sauce in all the land."
----
(Before who's actually seen "Escape from Catrina" says "What do you mean witchweed potion isn't magical?" my idea on the stuff is that it doesn't grant power so much as wring more of what's already there out of you. Not only would you go nuts, it also means you'd burn through your power faster without realizing it, need even more of the stuff to keep going a little longer, and... well, drugs are bad, mmmkay? But small amounts of it mixed with other stuff needn't be. It's an alchemy-slash-chemistry... thing. But that's not really important.)

Winter Shade is my main OC, daughter of Nyx and Snowdrop (magic was involved.) She is blind but has strong magic-based senses due to being the daughter of Nyx. However, it works by pegasus magic rules, so no using it the way a unicorn does. All you need to know for these scenes is that she senses the energy of everything around her but it's not like seeing or a Daredevil-level perfect substitute. Get to know her better here: ecliptorcalrissian.deviantart.…

Since I have zero drawing ability, the characters are courtesy of Generalzoi's pony creator. The rest… isn't always. Full credits at bottom.

The panels:

Okay, I don't have dialog for all of 'em. But, as to what's going on:

1: Apple Spice wanted to know what it was like to fly, and talked Winter Shade into carrying her. The first attempt didn't go so well.

2: Their first meeting. (Yeah, not going in order; I put the one I had dialogue for first.) Apple Spice has never met a blind pony before, and waves a hoof in front of her. When Winter Shade is done laughing, she explains that yes, she is blind, but that doesn't mean she can't feel the air of someone waving a hoof two inches from her face.

3: Apple Spice wants to know what's down there through those bushes. One way to find out! Zecora warns her not to; Apple Spice's listening skills need work. However, this adventure will soon end with Zecora proving Apple Spice isn't too old to be carried off by the scruff of her neck like a puppy or kitten. (No, equines don't do that as far as I can find; yes, it would probably hurt if one tried.) Lack of an injured ear is not a mistake; it's the other ear that's damaged! Also, they don't actually have the exact same stripe patterns; again, no artistic ability; using pony creator. It's also why Zecora is missing some bling and isn't quite right; I got as close to her real look as I could. Maybe she didn't have time to get completely ready before having to go chase her daughter? The hardest part of all this: making Zecora's legs and tail go behind that bush without making the bush suck. I hope it looks better to you lot than it does to me.

4: When Winter Shade tells her of the mystery surrounding the Castle of the Two Sisters and the strange presence that lives within, it's Apple Spice who convinced her to go investigate. Remember, horror movies don't exist in Equestria, so they don't know just how many horror movie survival rules they're breaking! As they begin to enter a section without much in the way of light, Winter Shade has great fun being the one to guide Apple Spice through. When she's an older teen/young adult, she'll make a career of this sort of thing.

5: Big Mac gives his little girl a nuzzle and tells her to be careful… or at least, a bit more careful than usual. Note that the family resemblance is there, you just have to look for it: her body is the color of his feet, her hair is the color of his body.

6: Mad science/magic at Zecora's workshop! Zecora knows what to keep out of reach when Apple Spice is there alone. Winter Shade fears for her life, her friend's life, and the continued existence of the universe, but somehow can't bring herself to move away.

Apple Spice's bio:

The basics you already know: She's the daughter of Big Macintosh and Zecora, in a setting a few years after the series proper.

Being half zebra, Apple Spice doesn't have to rhyme everything she ever says like her mom, but she picked up the habit, especially with her dad not being much of a talker. She'll find herself accidentally rhyming now and again, and tries to break the habit, not because she sees anything wrong with it but because with her personality, she doesn't like there being something like that about herself that she's not in control of. When she's doing it deliberately, she isn't quite good at it as Zecora. And while nobody does Big Mac's patented "Eeyup!" and "Nnnope!" exactly the same as he does, a normal "Yup!" or "Nope!" is to be found in her speech a little more often than in the next pony's.

Big Mac and Zecora live in a house not too far from Sweet Apple Acres, though Zecora still makes use of the hut in the Everfree Forest. Mac still helps out now and again at Sweet Apple Acres, as does Apple Spice - and she gets rewarded for her hard work with a few bits. This means she's got more extra cash than your average filly; not rich but she can go grab a hay shake more often than most kids. She keeps that a secret from the other kids.

Like a certain trio of fillies we could name - they're the age of the youngest of the Mane Six by this point - she likes to play hard, and her ideas sometimes run away from her; she'll go too far before she realizes it. The chipped ear is from one such misadventure and isn't the extent of the damage done that day; she's got a few interesting scars she'll have her whole life. Though eventually Big Mac and Zecora stop being afraid to let her do anything after that one time she was badly injured, the level of freedom she has afterward is never what it was before, not until she's quite older.

Winter Shade is more cautious, but it's hard to not be more cautious than Apple Spice. Winter's the designated 'sane one.' However, as Apple Spice is the only other kid Winter Shade really knows, Winter Shade doesn't really get that there's no way in Tartarus that other kids would be trying some of these things. She'd never do them on her own, but when the two are together, she gets dragged into things. She's the one to say "okay, that's going too far," at a certain point in a stunt nopony else would be trying in the first place. Apple Spice knows in her heart that when the only one who'll come this far with her says "okay, seriously, enough" and means it, she should probably listen. (She was alone when she got hurt.) As for what they do when it's Winter Shade's turn to pick? Well, she enjoys theater. They also play around Sweet Apple Acres, which does have some areas that aren't covered in apple trees. They play games of their own invention with rules that make it possible for a blind pony and a sighted pony to have equal chance, and that Winter can play even without focusing her senses to feel out what's around her. (It's harder than it sounds at this age, especially when multitasking. She's working on it, but she needs downtime from that.)

Unlike Winter Shade, Apple Spice does have other friends that she does things with, and goes to school with the other kids. As the only part-zebra, she's sometimes treated differently. The townspeople no longer fear Zecora, and know how she's helped them, but when you're the only one like you, it's still gonna be harder, and it'll definitely be what the Diamond Tiara types use as ammunition. Also, some do fear that she could hex them or something; they know Zecora's daughter could seriously mess you up. If someone insults her and gets hurt within the next week, questions will be asked. The majority of ponies aren't like that, but it doesn't take everyone for it to ruin your day. Of course, adults know that if they treat her unfairly, they'll have to deal with the Apple Family. You don't want that. And the other kids know that she's not afraid to fight, that she's quite strong, and that even getting hurt won't stop her. Even the biggest and roughest know that you don't get to attack her and not pay.

Not that she's particularly violent. But if someone's well and truly out to hurt her, she knows the magic of friendship isn't always going to defuse the situation, and she's ready for that, mentally and physically: She's an Earth Pony and an Apple Family member, meaning by nature she's stronger than most, and her farming chores mean she's always using it - Sweet Apple Acres is better than any gym membership. As she's often doing adventurous things that give her a decent number of scrapes, she's less afraid of getting hurt, and less hindered by pain when she's in it, than most. All this means that if you make her defend herself or someone she loves from you, you'll end up regretting it. Of course, that's no defense against the taunts of the Diamond Tiara types.

However, again, that isn't how she's treated most of the time by most ponies. It's a fact of life that if you're different you end up with a few more enemies than most and it's gotta be mentioned. But she has many friends, lives in a mostly nonviolent and tolerant place, both sides of her family are fairly respected, and some ponies think it's awesome to have someone with her interesting background around. Usually she's treated just like anypony else. Her worries most days are like most kids: that test coming up, that event you aren't sure your parents will let you go to, that cute colt who doesn't know you're alive, and since meeting Winter Shade, that reclusive friend of yours that you can't get out of her shell.

She does downplay her knowledge of zebra magic at school, though.

Being a late bloomer with cutie marks runs in the family, and she's no exception. She won't get hers for some time yet, but doesn't obsess over it the way her aunt Apple Bloom once did. Especially since Apple Bloom - now a young adult - has told her that as proud as she was to finally get hers, she'll never forget the times she had during the search for it - those were some of the best years of her life, and she met her best friends in the world directly because she was the only other kid who didn't have her cutie mark. So for Apple Spice, it's about the journey, too.

When she's older, she'll know how to use potions and talismans to increase crop production and quality, and eventually her work comes to be quite respected… but it's not used by the pony side of her family. As we've seen, Applejack and company pride themselves on not using magic for things like that. Sometimes this causes friction; to Apple Spice, her mother's craft is important, as it's part of the zebra heritage that's half of who she is, and to her, that's what you're treating as unworthy of respect - her mother and half of her. Applejack and Granny Smith certainly don't mean it that way, but they don't always understand. (And of course, they sometimes see it as a rejection of the way they've always done things, and the people who established those traditions, and Apple Spice doesn't always get that.) However, they've got no problem using her knowledge of arcane healing methods; things are smoother since the first time they surprised her by actually seeking out her knowledge in that area.  Once they did realize how she felt, they did go out of their way to make sure she knew she was completely accepted ever after. Not quite to the point of exchanging their methods for hers when it comes to farming, though.

As for her adult years? She already knows that when she gets older, neither Sweet Apple Acres nor the Everfree Forest will be where her future lies. Not everyone ends up doing what either of their parents did, and nothing's wrong with that. She'll follow her own path, putting her own ideas to work. However, she'll always make time to go see her old friends and family in Ponyville now and then.

At least, assuming she doesn't get herself killed while "adventuring" before she even hits high school...

As for G3 Apple Spice, if you care:

In the G3 movies, shorts, and webisodes, Apple Spice is never called by name that I know of, but she's basically THE G3 background pony. Though never a major player in any story, she'll be standing next to important characters as they talk about important stuff; she'll be the background pony who gets a line here and there. When the main characters run by, if there are ponies on the street, the one who'll actually have to step out of their way will be her. If one must stop and ask someone something, she'll be the one. Of everyone whose name never gets called, she interacts with the main cast most. Even in the G3.5 movie Twinkle Wish Adventure, she - despite not having a 3.5-style toy - gets to be near the front of the crowd on one scene, and is one of two ponies who catches the mayor when she faints.

derpiboo.ru/327890?scope=scpe9… When discussing Pinkie Pie's upcoming birthday, she's on the right in the top one and in the middle in the bottom one.

derpiboo.ru/262498?scope=scpe9… Left to right: Magic Marigold, Mayor Flitter Flutter, Apple Spice.

These are typical of Apple Spice scenes. In the first one, it's Minty who's talking in the first shot and Seaspray and Sunny Daze in the second, but she's the one you get the best look at in the first shot, and she's dead center and winking in the next. In the second one, Cheerilee has just broken the news to the mayor that the Object of Plot Importance™ has flown the coop. She doesn't take it well. When two background ponies who were in the crowd before are suddenly in place to run up and catch her, guess who one is?

Does she talk? Have an active hand in the proceedings? Have someone call her name? Not once ever. But if it's important, she will be there and you won't have to freeze-frame or squint to find her.

If G3 were FIM, Apple Spice would be bigger than Lyra and Bon Bon, bigger than Doctor Whooves… dare I say it, bigger than Derpy! On top of that, she's an Apple Something who's colored a lot like Apple Bloom, and exists in a series that has a version of Applejack. More people should really know who she is, and I've always wanted to use her in something.

Credits:

All non-creator elements have been mercilessly trimmed/resized/tweaked for my needs and are more than 20% cooler in their original forms.

•Everfree Forest background: breadking.deviantart.com/art/E…
•Zecora's Hut background: halomademeapc.deviantart.com/a…
•Explosion: somepony.deviantart.com/art/At…
•Zecora's CM: blackgryph0n.deviantart.com/ar…
•Big Mac's CM: the-smiling-pony.deviantart.co…
•Winter Shade's CM: clipart

And of course I have nothing to do with the makers of My Little Pony.